DQ: The Marshall Plan

• What reasons did the United States have to invest over $12 billion dollars into the rebuilding of western Europe?

American Motives

• Humanitarian concern

• Fear Europe would remain an economic drain on U.S.

• Need for a European market to buy American goods

• Must ensure stable, democratic countries rise above communism

Effects of the Marshal Plan (aka “European Recovery Plan”)

The U.S.

• Saved the U.S. economy from backsliding after the war

• Allowed to remake the European economy in the image of the U.S. economy

• Gave U.S. companies a place to invest

Europe

• U.S. rebuilt European cities and factories

• U.S. provided jobs and income to Europeans

• U.S. provided goods and services that Europeans could buy

• Europeans felt a sense of stability and security

• Which nations received the least money?

• Did the United States show favoritism by distributing funds only to its allies? Explain

• Why was the Marshall Plan geographically, economically, and politically effective in containing communism?

The Marshall Plan (1948)

• Postwar Europe=poverty, hunger, and unemployment with a strong communist presence

• U.S. needed a way to “contain” communism and preserve free gov’ts in Europe

• June 5, 1947--Sec. of State George Marshall devised the European Recovery Plan

• Marshall Plan provided $12.5 billion for European recovery

• Marshall Plan restored prosperity to Western Europe and ignited economic growth

" Our policy is directed not against any country or

doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and

chaos.” George Marshall

In what ways would the Marshall Plan affect United

States prosperity after WWII?

Marshall Plan• U.K., West Germany, Italy, France,

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey

NATO

• U.K., Canada, France, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg

ANZUS

• Australia, New Zealand

SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization)

• Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand

METO (Middle East Treaty Org)

• Iraq, Iran

What was the impact of nuclear proliferation on the Cold War?

• Nuclear proliferation began with the Manhattan Project during WWII

• The U.S. achieved the first nuclear explosion

• the Soviet Union (1949) and Britain (1952) exploded their own nuclear weapons

• Currently, there are 8 countries that belong to the “nuclear club”

The Truman Doctrine Declared

1. What is one of the primary objectives of U.S. foreign policy?

2. What steps has the U.S. taken to ensure a world “free of coercion”

3. What are the two ways of life to choose from according to Truman?

4. What is Truman’s pledge to free peoples of the world?